In many ways, Casey Thompson is the Sooner that never was.
The Oklahoma native, who’s the son of former OU quarterback Charles Thompson, nearly committed to the Sooners out of high school. But a conversation with then-offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley made him skeptical of the stability on staff, and he instead chose Texas as a four-star prospect in the 2018 cycle out of Newcastle (Okla.) High.
After his freshman year on the Forty Acres, Thompson quietly entered the portal and enrolled at Oklahoma before the spring semester in 2019. But the world never found out, as he eventually made the decision to return to Texas after a conversation about perseverance with his father. After riding pine for two more years, he emerged as the Longhorns’ starter in 2021, and turned in a career day against the Sooners in the Red River Showdown that year. He flung five touchdown passes and racked up 388 aerial yards, but it was all for naught when the clock hit zeroes, as his heroics were overshadowed by the coronation of a wunderkind freshman named Caleb Williams.
After starting 10 games for Texas in 2021, Thompson decided to transfer when the Longhorns brought in Quinn Ewers, and he once again heavily considered returning home to Oklahoma. But the Sooners elected to snag Dillon Gabriel out of the portal, and Thompson enrolled at Nebraska instead. He battled injuries throughout the 2022 campaign, but made 10 starts for the Huskers in a turmoil-laden campaign for the program. Nebraska brought in Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Sims in the offseason, whereupon Thompson once again hit the portal to seek new horizons. Again, he thought about Oklahoma, but decided he wanted to be the unquestioned starter in what would be his final year of college football.
He reunited with new Florida Atlantic head coach Tom Herman, to whom he’d committed at Texas, and entered the 2023 season as the Owls’ starting quarterback. But his season ended after just three games, as he tore his ACL in a loss to Clemson. At year’s end, there was a silver lining amidst it all, though: Thompson had a medical waiver to play a seventh season.
And this time, he knew where he wanted to be, even if it meant giving up his aspirations of being a starter.
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